Liran Christine Shan1, Panagiotis Panagiotopoulos2, Áine Regan1, Aoife De Brún3, Julie Barnett4, Patrick Wall1, Áine McConnon5. 1. School of Public Health, Physiotherapy, and Population Science, University College Dublin, Ireland. 2. Department of Computer Science, Brunel University, Uxbridge, United Kingdom; School of Business and Management, Queen Mary, University of London, London, United Kingdom. 3. School of Public Health, Physiotherapy, and Population Science, University College Dublin, Ireland; Department of Food Business and Development, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. 4. Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom. 5. School of Public Health, Physiotherapy, and Population Science, University College Dublin, Ireland. Electronic address: aine.mcconnon@ucd.ie.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To examine the use and impact of social media on 2-way communication between consumers and public organizations in the food safety and nutrition area. METHODS: In-depth qualitative study conducted between October, 2012 and January, 2013, using semi-structured interviews in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Sixteen professionals worked on the public interface within 5 national organizations with a role in communicating on food safety and nutrition issues in this thematic analysis. RESULTS: Five main themes were identified: gradual shift toward social media-based queries and complaints; challenges and limitations of social media to deal with queries and complaints; benefits of using social media in query and complaint services; content redesign driven by social media use; and using social media to learn more about consumers. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Social media penetrated and brought new opportunities to food organizations' interactions with the public. Given the increasing use of social media by the public, food organizations need to explore such new opportunities for communication and research.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the use and impact of social media on 2-way communication between consumers and public organizations in the food safety and nutrition area. METHODS: In-depth qualitative study conducted between October, 2012 and January, 2013, using semi-structured interviews in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Sixteen professionals worked on the public interface within 5 national organizations with a role in communicating on food safety and nutrition issues in this thematic analysis. RESULTS: Five main themes were identified: gradual shift toward social media-based queries and complaints; challenges and limitations of social media to deal with queries and complaints; benefits of using social media in query and complaint services; content redesign driven by social media use; and using social media to learn more about consumers. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Social media penetrated and brought new opportunities to food organizations' interactions with the public. Given the increasing use of social media by the public, food organizations need to explore such new opportunities for communication and research.
Authors: Bolin Cao; Chuncheng Liu; Maya Durvasula; Weiming Tang; Stephen Pan; Adam J Saffer; Chongyi Wei; Joseph D Tucker Journal: J Med Internet Res Date: 2017-07-19 Impact factor: 5.428